Automatic sheep pelt scrubbing or



Sept. 11, 1945. R. A. NOTT ETAL 2,384,691

AUTOMATIC SHEEP PELT SCRUBBING 0R CLEANING MACHINE Filed Sept. 2, 1942Ray/il/Vozt and Lewis 61.521215 INVENTOR A rrssr I BY JV. C. 4pmATTORNEY a substantially horizontal plane.

Patented Sept. 11, 1945 i OFFICE.

AUTOMATIC SHEEP PELT SCRUBBING OR CLEANING MACHINE Ray A. Nott and LewisS. Ellis, St. Joseph, Mo., assignors to Industrial Patents Corporation,Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application September 2, 1942,Serial No. 456,984

3 Claims. (Cl. 69-28) This invention relates to a washing machine andmore particularly to a machine for washing and scrubbing a peltlikematerial. a

It is an object of this invention to provide a machine for automaticallywashing and drying a peltlike article.

It is another object of this invention to provide a machine for morethoroughly washing and scrubbing a peltlike article.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved wringermeans for drying the article.

The machine herein disclosed will be particu larly described inconnection with the cleaning of an animal pelt, but it will becomeevident as the description proceeds that it might well be adapted to ause with other materials of similar structure.

In the past, to effect a cleaning of the pelt of an animal afterremoving it from the carcass, it has been the practice to subjectthepelt to a manual heating process or to hold it under a heatingmechanism to loosen the dirt and remove burrs and other particles whichmay have become entangled in the hair. Water is usually supplied duringsuch beating operation to aid in the removal of dirt after which, thepelt may be placed in any Well known type of dryer to remove the water.

To accomplish the desired result the present machine provides a conveyormeans to receive the pelt and the conveyor carries the article to beWashed through suitable spray and beating means such that the dirt isloosened and flushed from the hair whereupon the pelt is thoroughlycleaned. After subjecting the pelt to a plurality of such washing,beating, and flushing operations, the pelt is made to pass throughsuitable wringer rolls to remove substantially all of the water so thatthe pelt issues from the machine in a substantially dry, clean state.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view partly broken away and showing a sideelevation of the machine together with a schematic representation of thedrive system.

Figure 2 is a plan View of the machine shown in Figure 1.

As shown in the drawing an endless conveyor I is suitably supported topass over rollers i l and I2 so that its upper surface is maintained inReferring to Figure 1 and at the left hand end, it is seen that a levelspace is provided before the cooperating pair of rollers I3 and I4 sothat an operator may stand at the forward end of the machine to lay thepelts on the conveyor 10 with the hairy side facing up.

The conveyor l0 moves in the direction of the arrow and it will carrythe pelt disposed on its upper surface into the roller 13, the undersurface of which is moving in the same direction as the conveyor, and asthe pelt passes under the roller a plurality of hold-down belts I 5which pass around the roller will engage the upper surface of the pelt.The hold-down belts 15 may take the form of endless sprocket chains orother relatively stiff belting material of any nature such as a V beltand the purpose of these belts is to engage each of the pelts as theypass through the machine to holdthem flat against the conveyor means asthe pelts are carried under the'spray and beating means which remove theforeign matter from the hair. The endless belts'l5 are carried aroundrollers 13, I6 and I7, the latter being driven from any suitable meansto move thebelt at the same linear speed as the conveyor.

The belts I 5 have a relatively small width as compared to that of theendless conveyor belt ii! (see Figure 2) in order not to cover up toomuch of the surface of the pelt.

Continuing in a forward direction through the machine, the pelt iscarried along by the conveyor belt ID to pass under the nozzles I8disposed longitudinally along the path of movement of the conveyor belt.A washing fluid is delivered through the nozzle l8 under considerablepressure and in practice, a pressure as high as pounds per square inchhas been found most desirable. The pressure should be sufliciently highthat the fluid will strike against the hair on the pelt to thoroughlyagitate it and wash the adhering dirt particles from the hair.

As the pelt passes from under each of the nozzles l8, it is immediatelyengaged by a beater i9 which provides additional agitation between thewashing fluid and the hair on the pelt. The beaters I9 may be formed byattaching a plurality of flaps of heavy duck or canvas to a rotatingaxle driven from any suitable source and they are all driven to rotateat a rather rapid rate.

A plurality of the spray and beater assemblies may be associatedtogether and after the pelt has become flooded with the washing liquidissuing from. the nozzles, the pelt is carried 'under a wringer means:to strip substantiallyall of the flood of water from the pelt before itis passed under any of the further nozzles and beating means. Such awringer means is formed by the roller 20 which is positioned below theconveyor belt to cooperate with the roller IE to squeeze outsubstantially all of the washing fluid in the pelt. The rollers I6 and20 of course extend across the width of the conveyor, and roller 20 maybe resiliently urged into engagement with roller I6.

The hold-down belts I5 leave the pelt as they pass upwardly from rollerI6, but another set of hold-down belts takes up a position over the peltto hold it on the conveyor. The roller I6 also serves as a forwardsupport for another set of endless hold-down belts 23; This set ofholddown belts 23 cooperates with the conveyor and they are carried atthe outlet end of the Washer by roller 26 and driving roller 2'I. Asconveyor I moves forwardly, the hold down belt 23 take up the engagementof the pelts as soon as belts I are removed, and belts 23 carry themunder the additional sets of sprays 24 and heaters 25. The sprays 24shower a washing fluid under pressure down on the pelt and the beaters25 cooperate with the sprays 24 to provide additional agitation forWorking the dirt and larger particles out of the hair. As the pelts passunder roller 26, a roller 29 resilently urged to engage under theconveyor, cooperates with roller 26 to form a wringer device to squeezeout a portion of the water on the pelt.

The conveyor belt may be driven by any suitable means to carry the peltthrough the plurality of washing, beating and wringing stages. Inpractice, it is preferred that at least four such spraying, beating andwringing steps be per formed to thoroughly cleanse a sheep pelt. It willbe noted that the pelt is stripped of its washing fluid as soon as itbecomes flooded in order that as the pelt passes to the next washingstage, the water being impigned, under pressure, upon the surface of thepelt may effectively agitate the hair to aid in driving out the foreignparticles. If the water were sprayed against a pelt which was thoroughlyflooded, the energy of the' spray would be dissipated in the fluid andwould not be utilized to best advantage in knocking out the dirt andother particles present.

After the pelt has been treated at the washing and beating stages, it isstripped from the holddown belts 23 by the rotating flail 30, thestripped pelt passing beneath Wringerroll 40 which cooperates with theroller I2 supporting the conveyor to squeeze out most of the waterand-then the pelt flows over roller I2 to drop onto another conveyor 4|as shown by the arrows in Figure 1. To aid in removing the pelt from theroller I2, another flail 3I engages the surface of the roller I2 at itslower side.

The conveyor M is mounted on therollers 42 and 43 and is driven thoughpairs of cooperating wringer rolls 44 and 45, 46 and 41, and 48 and 43.As the conveyor passes from one of these pairs of wringer rolls toanother, the conveyor belt 4| is depressed by the driven rol1ers'49 and50 as is best seen in Figure 1. V

In order to dispose the belt M in convenient position to receive thepelt from the washer, the roller 42 is disposed below the roller I2which supports the end of conveyor I0 and it will be seen that the peltis carried uphill into the, first pair of wringer rolls 44 and 45.. Asthe peltpasses into the bight of these rollers, the washing fluidcarried in the hair is squeezed out and rolls downhill so that it' ismore efficientlyremoved. The

conveyor M then carries the pelt onwardly through the wringer device andthe rollers 49 and 50 depress the belt 4| and the skin disposed thereonbefore they pass into each of the pairs of cooperating wringer rolls 46and 41, and 48 and 43, respectively, so that at each successive wringingoperation the fluid will be most effectively stripped from the pelt.When this, type of wringer means is rovided a sheep pelt, for example,will pass out of the machine in a substantially dry state. Thecooperating pairs of wringer rolls may be driven in any convenientmanner.

The operation of the machine will be fully understood from thedescription given above but briefly, when pelts are placed on theconveyor belt l0 they are carried forwardly under the shower pipes I8and 24 and beaters I9 and 25. While the flushing and beating action istaking place, the pelts are firmly engaged on the conveyor belt II] bythe hold-down belts I5 and 23 which travel forwardly with the conveyorat the same rate of speed. The different sets of belts I5 and 23 areoffset with respect to each other so that at no time will the two setsof belts cover up the same area. A this scrubbing and beating process isrepeated several times, it'is seen that the pelts will be washedeffectively throughout its entire surface.

The pelt progresses through the machine and it then passes between thewringer rolls 40 and I2 to fall on conveyor M. The pelt i carried bythis conveyor to pass between the pairs of wringer rolls and it flowstoward each of the wringers in an upwardly direction.

The pelt is then discharged from the machine I in a substantially dryand clean condition.

While the operation of the machine has been described above inconnection with an animal pelt, it is obvious that the machine might beused with any peltlike article as for instance a pile fabric and/or thelike. Any material that may be cleaned by the combined action of apressure nozzle for squirting a washing fluid onto the material and abeating means engaging its surface, can be advantageously cleansed inthe machine herein disclosed. It is contemplated that the term peltlikeas used in the claims shall include all such articles or materials.

The above described machine embodies one manner of performing theinvention herein described. Modifications will undoubtedly occur tothose skilled in the art, all of which are contemplated to be within thescope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A machine for washing and scrubbing a peltlike article comprising asubstantially horizontally disposed wide conveyor means for supportingand carrying the article, a plurality of sets of relatively narrowendless belts cooperating with said conveyor to hold the article on theconveyor, said sets of belts being offset with respect to each other,means to direct a Washing fluid against the hair surface being washed,beating means to strike the hair surface only to agitate the fluidagainst the peltlike article, said sets of belts being positioned abovesaid conveyor to have a portion of each set in longitudinallyoverlapping relation with respect to another set.

2. A machine for washing and wringing a peltlike article comprising asubstantially horizontally disposed conveyor means for supporting andcarrying the article, means for holding the article on the conveyor,means to direct a washing fluid under pressure against the hair surface.being 'ing washed to effect an agitation thereof, beatwashed to eflectan agitation thereof, beating means to strike the hair surface only tofurther agitate the fluid against the peltlike article, and a pluralityof fluid removing means positioned at spaced points along the length ofsaid conveyor, said removing means serving to strip a substantialportion of the water directed onto said article from it at each of saidpoints.

3. A machine for washing and wringing a peltlike article comprising asubstantially horizontally disposed conveyor means for supporting andcarrying the article, means to direct a washing fluid under pressureagainst the hair surface being means to strike the hair surface only tofurther agitate the fluid against the peltlike article, a plurality offluid removing means positioned at spaced points along the length ofsaid conveyor, said removing means serving to strip a substantialportion of the water directed onto said article from it at each of saidpoints, and additional means disposed adjacent the outlet end of saidconveyor for receiving the peltlike article to effect the furtherremoval of water therefrom.

RAY A. NOTT.

LEWIS S. ELLIS.

